How I Met Hena Chakelithp

Chapter 20. A Miracle of a Night

We admired each other's outfits for a while until the first knock at the door came. It was Wen. She smiled to see us.
"Hey guys," she said.
"Hey," I said. "How come Tatch isn't here?"
"Oh, he's slow, so I decided to come without him. He'll be here later," she said as if she didn't care whatsoever.
"Come in," Hena said.
Wen came in and sat down. She saw my tilbarn resting against the wall.
"Can I play that?" she said eagerly.
"Yeah, sure. Go to town," I said, shrugging.
She picked up the tilbarn and started shredding like a pro. Wow, I thought, she's amazing at two things. Tilbarn and acrobatics.

"Where did you learn to play like that?" I asked.

"The minstrel who plays music for the Wind Riders," she said.

She danced as she played, kicking and twirling, spinning and jumping. I assumed that the reason she was so good at dancing was because she was so good at acrobatics. Three things. Then I noticed her outfit. She was wearing a loose, flowy, ankle-length dress of a pleasant teal color that somehow complimented her flaming orange hair instead of clashing with it. The colors, though opposites, were quite taking. She'd also put some kind of dye on her lips so that they were bright pink.

Drawn by IsabelleReed on ArtStudio. Traced from Google Images.
As if reading my mind, Hena said, "I love your outfit."
"Thank you!" Wen said. "It's not nearly as good as yours, but I'm glad it's not completely ugly."
"No, no, it's actually very pretty," I said.
Wen's eyes traveled down from my face to my body. "Yours is amazing," she said. "So is yours, Hena." She gave a smile in Hena's direction.
Another knock sounded. Hena got up and opened the door. Sure enough, it was Tatch. Now that I saw him up close, I saw that he resembled Wen even more than I thought he did. He was wearing a normal jacket and pants.
"Hey, he said. "This barn is pretty awesome."
"Thanks, I guess," I said. "Want some food?"
"No thanks," he said. "I already ate dinner while Wen was getting ready. It took like two hours." He elbowed her.
Wen elbowed him back and smirked. "Hey, you made up for it by taking too long to get here--"
She was interrupted by another knock at the door. I opened it to see Arvern standing outside. Like Tatch, he wore a plain shirt and pants. "Hey, Srarori," he said enthusiastically, grinning his perfect grin.
"Hey, Arvern," I grinned back, trying to look good. "Come in."
He immediately plopped down next to Tatch and started talking about the best and worst dragon racers.
The last knock, of course, was Aranee. I got up to welcome her in, but the moment I opened the door, something white and gold rocketed in and did three cartwheels before jumping about five feet in the air to grab one of the rafters, swinging 360 degrees around, and flying, almost literally flying, across the room to land in a perfect standing position in the dead center of the floor.
We all clapped. Arvern said, "That was the most awesome way anyone I've ever seen has come into a party."
Aranee smiled and curtsied. Wen seemed the most impressed. I supposed this was because she herself was rather an acrobatics whiz.
Hena stared. I did a double take at Aranee and was instantly stunned. I had been so focused on her grand entrance that I hadn't noticed how she looked. She had on a simple knee-length dress that was made of linen. The straps were built in and very wide. The sash was made of the same material and it cinched around the waist. And the whole dress was made of the cleanest, purest lily white color.

My eyes traveled up. She didn't need to do anything to her face, it was such a pretty face already. But her hair was up in a big knot. I felt a pang of something I certainly shouldn't have been feeling then.
I tried to push it away. I remembered a fairy tale I'd been told when I was young. In it, an ugly witch gets really jealous of her sister, a beautiful witch, and casts some kind of spell that makes her face break out in purple puffy bumps so that she'll be pretty in comparison. I imagined Aranee with a puffy purple face and thought she'd still be pretty.
However, I was here to have fun with my friends, not to be jealous of them. "Let's get it started!" I said.
My crowd of five cheered.
Wen snatched up the tilbarn and started playing. Arvern, taking her lead, picked up the bongos and gave her a beat. Hena, who had improved massively in terms of dernia skills since I'd first met her, tried to play with Arvern and Wen, and after a few measures found a way to play in rhythm. It sounded pretty good once they all got into it.

 Tatch had been eyeing Aranee for a while. I could see from my dancing spot across the room. Tatch walked over to her. She gave him a radiant smile. He returned it. "Hey," he said. "I know we don't know each other but you're really pretty and super good at acrobatics.  Want to dance?" He didn't look the least bit shy. 

Aranee blushed. "Okay," she said. 

"Do you know the Flagpole?" said Tatch. I assumed that this was some kind of dance.

"Yes!" said Aranee. "You're the only person I've met who knows it!" 

They started dancing. They didn't dance in the traditional way, but they were nonetheless amazing. They both were very coordinated. They swirled across the floor, dipping and spinning. I actually saw Tatch flip Aranee over his shoulders several times.

My eyes strayed over to Arvern. He was leaning against the wall, tapping his bongos. I gave him a smile, which he returned. I hoped he knew what I was thinking.

We all danced, but nothing can compare to the sound of dragon-music. Somewhere along the line, Kudika the dragon came in.
"Do you want us to sing for you?" she said in Hereaca. She'd been much, much nicer to Hena after Lindune had come along and spared her. 
"Yes, Kudika, " I replied. "That would be perfect."
She called in Staliku and Lindune and Pahn. After they'd started singing, there was no need for instruments. Arvern, Hena, and Wen dropped their instruments and started dancing on the spot. The dragons tapped their claws on the floor for a beat, and they sang like nothing else. Don't ask me how dragons sing, because I don't know, but they can. And when they do, it's like your whole mind and body syncs to the rhythm of time. The dragons all sat on the floor and sang with all their hearts.
And it might have been the music, and it might have been the night, but I think it was Valiara herself who made Arvern walk up to me and extend his hand like he was about to either die or float up to the moonlit skies.
I looked at his hand, then his eyes, then my own body, then his hand again, and slowly, almost by instinct, I extended my own hand and closed it around his. Then he moved his other hand toward my other hand and I grabbed it again...
And when I looked at his face, he looked to be...floating up to the moonlit skies.
We started to spin on the spot, and as the music went on and on, we went deeper and deeper into it than before. As I held his hands, for the first time I was glad I had six fingers, because when you have six fingers, there are more fingers to hold on with, more fingers to hold on like you'll never let go.
We were just gazing into each other's faces in a trance. Pretty soon Arvern let go of my hands and put his arms around my shoulders, and then he leaned over and whispered in my ear, "You're perfect."
I didn't need an explanation. I knew exactly what Arvern Hish felt that night dancing to dragon song, because somebody else, Srarori Coreter, felt it too.

And that was the night Arvern and I officially got together.

#Srarvern.